IMF chief suggests ECB should lower rate

International Monetary Fund managing directer Christine Lagarde suggested on Friday that the European Central Bank has room to bring interest rates lower to help flagging growth in the Eurozone area.

The European Central Bank's interest rate is at a record low of 0.75%.

However, ECB board member Benoit Coeure said that the bank saw no need for rate cuts now.

"It remains an option of course, but the sense has been recently that it was not a priority. Our priority has been to address impaired transmission channels of monetary policy," he said during a BBC debate in Tokyo.